why look inversion isn't wrong
this is just a notice to everyone who makes the fatally flawed argument that inverted makes no sense because pressing up on the analog stick should make you look up instead of down. you are not pressing up on the analog stick, you are pressing forward. if i am incorrect and you do happen to be pressing up then you must be holding your controller vertically, possibly in front of your face. it seems to me this would be the most nonsensical and/or uncomfortable manner in which one could hold a controller, so i will assume that the rest of us, the sensible ones whose opinions may have some credence, are holding their controllers horizontally around waisthigh, thereby avoided interference with vision and/or discomfort and strain of the wrists.
in this case you are in fact pressing forward on the right analog stick. with this in mind, and based upon the knowledge that pressing forward on the left analog stick makes you walk forward (left,left, right,right, and so on), we can only assume the locus of the analog sticks in relation to your character is the top of the head. if this is true, then pressing forward (ie moving the top of your head forward) should imply looking down. anyone who looks up when they move their head forward has either experienced severe neck trauma in the past or belongs in the same terrifyingly uncomfortable/unsensible camp as the people who hold their controllers in front of their faces, and whose opinions i have long since decided to disregard as a function of apparent mental instability.
given this, only if the stick represented the front of the characters face would pushing forward suggest looking up. this is certainly not impossible, though this case suggests the left and right analog sticks must be operating disparately from one another with one bearing a certain relationship to the character and the other working based upon a quite seperate relationship. this must be the conclusion we reach based upon the knowledge that it is, in fact, impossible to customize your controller (in any game i am aware of) in such a way that pressing forward on the left analog stick makes you jump, pressing back makes you crouch, and pressing left and right have the same effect they have when set to default.
basically, if the default setting makes sense then the two sticks must be operating based upon indepent relationships to the character. while this undermines the consistency i prefer in my control scheme, we have no necessary reason to value such consistency. even granting this, however, does nothing to suggest that default is any more correct or sensible as the analog control scheme is rendered arbitrary by the inconsistency between analog sticks. if there is no reason to assume they should have the same relationship to the character, then there is no reason to assume they shouldnt. put differently, if we have no reason to value consistency, then we have no reason to value inconsistency either. objectively, both are equally valuable.
now, it might be argued that because most in most games the default setting is non-inverted, that they are meant to be played that way. but this is flawed in a number of ways. first, we must assume that either the game maker's decision to make this the default was based on something objective, or that it was arbitrary. obviously there is no higher authority with objective knowledge about proper control schemes, and if you happen to believe in one then you'll have to excuse my saying that you are probably a raving lunatic or a religious fanatic of a magnitude sufficient to qualify you for the former category. some might argue that the higher authority is the effectiveness of the control schemes relative to one another, but i have no reason to believe, and sincerely doubt one is in fact better than the other. this really only depends on what you are used to. so if we accept that there is no higher authority on control schemes, then the game maker's decision was arbitrary and we have no reason to abide by it based purely upon the idea of authority.
but none of this is even necessary as the simple fact that the game makers made non-inverted the default implies nothing about their real intentions since we are, in fact, given a choice in the matter. they may have decided on non-inverted simply because they assumed it was what most people thought was more sensible, and looking at the present results of a poll taken on bungie.net (64% to 36% in favor of non-inverted) this certainly seems like a possibility.
the point of all this is that the argument against inverted based upon the premise that it is nonsensical because when you press up you should look up (or as i have so often encountered it, it's an fps, not a flight sim) relies upon the flawed assumptions that you are in fact pushing up on the analog stick, something that i know i at least am not doing, and that a control scheme making logical sense even matters in the first place (in which case inverted would obviously be superior).
bear in mind i harbor no ill will towards people who use default controllers, whatever you want to play with is fine, i couldnt care less. this argument is directed only at those people who claim that inverted makes no sense (coupled generally with the belief that it is somehow inferior). it does make sense, in fact it makes more sense, but neither one is better or worse. its all about what youre used to. i dont play inverted because i think its sensible, but only because its what i got used to playing back in the halcyon days of goldeneye. please feel free to offer thoughts or counter-arguments of the well thought out variety ("u suck u n00b, ill pwnz u" doesn't count).
-Asano
in this case you are in fact pressing forward on the right analog stick. with this in mind, and based upon the knowledge that pressing forward on the left analog stick makes you walk forward (left,left, right,right, and so on), we can only assume the locus of the analog sticks in relation to your character is the top of the head. if this is true, then pressing forward (ie moving the top of your head forward) should imply looking down. anyone who looks up when they move their head forward has either experienced severe neck trauma in the past or belongs in the same terrifyingly uncomfortable/unsensible camp as the people who hold their controllers in front of their faces, and whose opinions i have long since decided to disregard as a function of apparent mental instability.
given this, only if the stick represented the front of the characters face would pushing forward suggest looking up. this is certainly not impossible, though this case suggests the left and right analog sticks must be operating disparately from one another with one bearing a certain relationship to the character and the other working based upon a quite seperate relationship. this must be the conclusion we reach based upon the knowledge that it is, in fact, impossible to customize your controller (in any game i am aware of) in such a way that pressing forward on the left analog stick makes you jump, pressing back makes you crouch, and pressing left and right have the same effect they have when set to default.
basically, if the default setting makes sense then the two sticks must be operating based upon indepent relationships to the character. while this undermines the consistency i prefer in my control scheme, we have no necessary reason to value such consistency. even granting this, however, does nothing to suggest that default is any more correct or sensible as the analog control scheme is rendered arbitrary by the inconsistency between analog sticks. if there is no reason to assume they should have the same relationship to the character, then there is no reason to assume they shouldnt. put differently, if we have no reason to value consistency, then we have no reason to value inconsistency either. objectively, both are equally valuable.
now, it might be argued that because most in most games the default setting is non-inverted, that they are meant to be played that way. but this is flawed in a number of ways. first, we must assume that either the game maker's decision to make this the default was based on something objective, or that it was arbitrary. obviously there is no higher authority with objective knowledge about proper control schemes, and if you happen to believe in one then you'll have to excuse my saying that you are probably a raving lunatic or a religious fanatic of a magnitude sufficient to qualify you for the former category. some might argue that the higher authority is the effectiveness of the control schemes relative to one another, but i have no reason to believe, and sincerely doubt one is in fact better than the other. this really only depends on what you are used to. so if we accept that there is no higher authority on control schemes, then the game maker's decision was arbitrary and we have no reason to abide by it based purely upon the idea of authority.
but none of this is even necessary as the simple fact that the game makers made non-inverted the default implies nothing about their real intentions since we are, in fact, given a choice in the matter. they may have decided on non-inverted simply because they assumed it was what most people thought was more sensible, and looking at the present results of a poll taken on bungie.net (64% to 36% in favor of non-inverted) this certainly seems like a possibility.
the point of all this is that the argument against inverted based upon the premise that it is nonsensical because when you press up you should look up (or as i have so often encountered it, it's an fps, not a flight sim) relies upon the flawed assumptions that you are in fact pushing up on the analog stick, something that i know i at least am not doing, and that a control scheme making logical sense even matters in the first place (in which case inverted would obviously be superior).
bear in mind i harbor no ill will towards people who use default controllers, whatever you want to play with is fine, i couldnt care less. this argument is directed only at those people who claim that inverted makes no sense (coupled generally with the belief that it is somehow inferior). it does make sense, in fact it makes more sense, but neither one is better or worse. its all about what youre used to. i dont play inverted because i think its sensible, but only because its what i got used to playing back in the halcyon days of goldeneye. please feel free to offer thoughts or counter-arguments of the well thought out variety ("u suck u n00b, ill pwnz u" doesn't count).
-Asano
posted by Voomp at
4:49 PM
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